Time for a sacrifice?

Okay, so my friends are here.  Great, right?  Well, sort of.  See, they came to visit for the second week of my Easter break.  One was supposed to go home Friday, one Saturday.  They're still here.

Right now, the weirdest thing is that no one knows how long the ash from the volcano will continue to hang about above the UK and Europe.  A is scheduled to go home on Wednesday now, and B is scheduled for Tuesday.  Whether or not that will happen is anyone's guess.

Both have children, and both would really like to get home to them. Like a hundred thousand other people who are stranded here or there.  Maybe that's exaggerating, but the number gets bigger every day.  At my school, we have teachers who went to the States, and to Hong Kong and other places in Europe for their two-week holiday; I don't know how many got back before Thursday when all this started.  How many teachers can be gone from a school?  And why did't I go somewhere to get stuck as well?  I'm just saying.

What I'm finding interesting, is how many people are saying to my friends. "Wow, you get extra days!  How great!  Enjoy yourselves!"

Except, there's this feeling of uncertainty;  what's the best thing to do?  We hear on the news that this could be going on for months.  No one knows what's going to happen.  Should they try to take a coach and a ferry and a train to Spain to catch a flight from there?  What if the ash reaches Spain  before that, and they get stuck there?  At least here, they have a place to stay, and don't have to spend extra money.  should they try to book passage on a boat?  That's silly... isn't it?  I mean, this will clear up at the end of the week at the latest, right? 

Or not.

It costs about $1600 and takes seven days to take a ship from here to New York, and then there's the flight home to California after that.  Is it ridiculous to consider that as an option?  Will that be the only option?

We have another friend who went to Prague on business, and is stuck there, and A's teenage nieces are stuck in Germany somewhere.  These are just my friends from the states who can't get home.

Of course, the weather today is fabulous, and my friends are out enjoying it the best they can.  I'm here.  I have papers to mark.  I'd planned to mark them yesterday and today, since they were supposed to already have left.

Interesting times.

Back, and in one piece

So, we all got back in one piece.  Two seperate trips to the hospital emergency room,  five stitchs for one leg, one extended nosebleed, and vomit less than a mile away from the school, but we all got back.  I could have slept for 12 hours; I forgot that 12-year-olds can and will stay up all night if they can.  Sheesh.

Much fun was had by all, but man, was it cold?  Dang.  Spring, my foot.  Yesterday was 63 degrees and I thought I was in heaven.    I really thought things would be warming up by now...

Yesterday, I went to Camden Town to see the markets.   On my way to the train, I see this sign:

I don't know why I like it so much.  Something old-fashioned about it.

Rode the train, rode the tube, and got off at Camden Town Station.  I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of the shops or the markets themselves.  The streets reminded me of funky stores in Los Angeles/Hollywood; lots of vintage clothing and tattooing and piercing places.

At lunch, I ate my falafel overlooking the water:

It was so nice to sit outside and feel the sun's warmth.  Of course, I was wearing an undershirt, long-sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt and a denim jacket, but still...

Lots of fun little trinket-y things for sale, but all I got was a scarf (really pretty, lots of colors) for four pounds and some touristy London stuff to send to my friend's little girl for her birthday.  If I'd been here in my 20's, the place would have been cleaned out.

Then, as I rounded a turn in the market stalls.  I saw a woman sitting on a bench in a kind of a shelter, with her feet in a tub.

It was those flesh-eating fish!  Only dead flesh, mind you, but flesh all the same.

Of course I had to do it.  Just for the story and photo opportunity:

(Okay,  I know, my hair is really short. Not my intention.   Drinking before getting your hair cut is not a good idea.  It'll grow).

So I smiled for the camera, but was grossed out a bit too.   And why were they so hot for my ankles?  The dry skin is on the bottom of my feet, and my heels.  Very strange.

Don't look at how my calf resembles a tree-stump, look at the fishies!  The weirdest bit was when they were trying to get between my toes.  Odd, odd, odd.  These little guys are banned in at least 15 states because of health issues (the water is not changed between people, bacteria might grow, are the fish treated humanely, etc.), but I took my chances.

On my way home, I stopped in Enfield Town to buy some nylons (why is it I hate nylons, but don't mind tights?  And did you know that over here, they're all called "tights?"  Yep, nylons, hose, stockings, tights... all the same word), and check out the charity (thrift) shops for books to read.  Got five of 'em (books, not tights), and I was a happy camper.  This is the corner where I wait for the W8 bus:

I love how weathered it is.

Hopefully, I will fare better, and that word won't be used to describe me when I come home this August.

Be well.

Looks like I've lost most of my readers

Guess that's what happens when one posts only once a month, or posts boring items.

I so wish I'd had a camera when I saw that rainbow the other day.  It was during the last period of the day, during the last 10 minutes or so.  My students try to be cool but all of them were pressed up against the window behind my desk (it's the only one that's not at the top of the walls in the room) and making little sounds of awe.  It was a nice way to end the day, even if there was a headache involved.

I'm leaving in a couple of hours for the year 8 PGL trip.  Students call it "Parents Get Lost" but it really stands for Peter Gordon Lawrence, the guy who started these adventure trips.  10 staff, and 92  twelve-year-old kids. 

What was I thinking?  I have two weeks off, and even though my two pals are coming next weekend, I could have jetted off to Spain or Greece or Italy... where it's warm... but no.  I volunteered for this. 

Just think though, no matter what, I will remember this weekend.  It's a way to get to know the kids in a  way I don't at the school.  We don't have trips like this at home.  Yeah, there's sixth grade camp, but that's about it.  As a teacher, I've not done something like this.

So, next week, I'm going to a wedding, and a going away dinner.  Means I won't be going anywhere too far away.

Made my reservations for return home the other day as well.  It's a little disappointing; my visa was messed up a bit, and I have to be out of the country by the first of August. I'm supposed to have 14 days from the last day of work (the 20th of July), but for some reason only got 10.  Now, I've been told I just have to be out of the country by the first, but I can come back in as a regular tourist.  I'm not so sure about that.  See, my plan was to take a trip after school got out, come back, get packed up and come home. Can you just imagine me coming back from a relaxing week on the coast of Italy and being told I couldn't come back in to England?  I've got five bags of stuff; probably more by the time I leave, so it's not like I can just take it all with me.

Grr...  I go back to La Colina on the 17th of August, so I've got a very short summer this year.  Still have to buy a car, and get back into the swing of Santa Barbara things again too.

Whatever.  It's all good (that's me trying to be positive). 

The forecast for the weekend is rain and some snow, if you can believe it.  I bought waterproof pants (bottoms... "pants" here mean underpants), yesterday because it's an outdoor adventure camp.

Pray for mild weather please.

migraine

Fucking hell.

I know, swearing? 

I've had this damn headache since Saturday morning.  I really thought it had gone this afternoon, but no.

It was only a respite from 3 to 8...It's back, and I can barely focus.  Yeah, like I'm going to mark papers tonight.

I saw the most brilliant, vivid rainbow I've ever seen in my life

So the weather here's not all bad.

15 degrees today

Only one degree away from 60 fahrenheit! I don't think it's been above 60 degrees since September.  I actually wore capri's and no socks today.  I might even go wild soon and paint my toenails again.  You never know.

Mom is sending me three new pairs of trousers I ordered from Ebay.  I've been wearing the same black ones three times a week because they're the only ones that fit me properly.  I can only hope this weight stays off once I get back home to the land of driving my own car again.

Heading up to the 7-month mark; quite shocking really how quickly this is going.  School is just as hard as ever, but it's as if I hit a wall a few weeks ago, and now it's all good.  Well, "good" might not be the word, but not so difficult either.  I realize I can't be the teacher I'm used to being, and I'm not beating myself up over it anymore.  Do the best I can with what I have; can't be asked to do more than that.

Having said that, back to marking the millions of papers I have.

Love you all, you cheeky monkeys.

A month

That's what's gone by since I wrote last.  Oh, I have good intentions, but they are just paving the road to... you know what I mean.

K. and C. came for a visit, and it was good.  We were the London Tourists.  The best was going to Dans Le Noir, a completely dark restaurant.  The waitstaff is all blind as well, and it's to raise awareness of disabilities.  You don't even know what you have ordered, since there are just four choices: Vegetarian, Meat-based, Fish-based, and Chef's surprise.

I ordered Chef's surprise, but they mixed up our  orders.  K. had a horrid head cold, and she couldn't really taste anything as well as not see it, so it was a bit of a bummer for her.  After we finished, we found out what we had eaten.  She had ordered the meat-based meal, but I was the one who ate it.  It was good too; steak and turkey and some chicken.

Now, she got my plate, and actually ate without knowing it, Antelope and Kangaroo.  Can you believe it?  All she could tell was that it was "meat," and that was because of its texture.  How funny is that?  And given how often I go hunting, how soon will it be before I have a chance to eat anything like that again?

Anyway, it still was a great experience.  Something I would not recommend is the Windsor Castle/Stonehenge/Bath in-one-day coach trip. Now, that was exhausting, and we didn't spend long enough anywhere.  It was a long day, and just when we got interested in something, we had to move on.

M. and T. are coming to visit the second week of April, so I'll be able to do the tourist thing once again.  I'd really like to go somewhere outside of England again, but I don't know how to fit it in.  I found out today that I must leave the UK by August 1st; that's when my visa expires.  This whole time I thought that I had 14 days after that to get out, but it's not the case. I teach until the 20th of July, so that only gives me 11 days.  However, I can leave and then come back as a tourist. At least that's what I've been told. 

I don't know what to do.  I have to be back at work on August 17th back home, and I want to have a bit of time to myself to get used to being back home before jumping right back into work... honestly, I don't quite know what to do.

See?  That's why I've not been writing.  Nothing above is of any interest other than to me.  Navel gazing I think it's called.

What's happened?  Where's the wry and witty girl I once was?